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How you can fight software patents today

The newly launched swpat.org wiki is an effort to build the case
against software patents and to make the work of previous and existing
campaigns understandable and reusable to outsiders and newcomers. By
using a public wiki, swpat.org also provides an answer to the
always-difficult question: "What can I do right now to fight software
patents?"

The wiki approach was chosen because in a field this vast, no one
knows everything but everyone knows something. There are two types of
information to gather. First is the press articles, studies,
statements from experts, and statements from interest groups. These are
too numerous for anyone to have a global overview of, and the
importance of each depends and the politics, economy, and culture of
each region.

The second type of information is the high-quality output of previous
anti-swpat campaigns. Previous campaigns have done great work on
making the case against software patents to judges, patent offices,
and politicians. Interacting with these institutions requires using
specific jargon, so these documents are written to be understandable
by an expert in a specific institution in a specific country or
region.

There's a new debate about patent legislation in New Zealand. How
much effort would it take for someone in New Zealand to find the
documents produced by the campaigns in the European Union and the USA
and distinguish the important or reusable points? Hopefully the
swpat.org documentation will make that easier, and the coming debate
in New Zealand will surely generate more information which swpat.org
will in turn try to help make accessible to the rest of the world.

The target audience of swpat.org is thus people who want to start or
participate in campaigns against software patents. swpat.org won't
tell people which are the best arguments. Instead, swpat.org will
document the whole range of arguments, and will attach all the
evidence we can find from studies, statements, and press articles.
The decision of which arguments are best is a decision to be taken
locally by each specific campaign.

Another motivation behind this project is to increase the continuity
and coordination among anti-swpat campaigns in general. Existing
anti-swpat campaigns focus on particular regions. It would be useful
to coordinate at the global level -- you can bet the big patent owners
have been doing so for a long time. When some people think of
coordination, they think of a coordinator, but that's not swpat.org's
approach. Instead, coordination will be helped by making the work of
each campaign more transparent and clear. Then each campaign can
follow or ignore the work of each other campaign.

Continuity will be increased because as campaigns start and stop, and
individuals come and go, the information on swpat.org will always
increase. This is particularly necessary in political campaigns
because working within the rigid procedures of government institutions
leads to bursts of work followed by quiet periods.

During the quiet periods, the gathered information gathers dust, some
websites disappear, and motivated people don't find any active
campaigns they can put their energy into. By adding an ongoing
documentation project, we can reduce the amount of knowledge lost.

So, what can you do right now to help fight software patents? Take a
look at swpat.org and add your favorite argument, add a link to that
interesting article you remember seeing last year, send a link to a
local software group and ask them if they can add information about
legislation or court cases in your country or region. Writing
articles isn't necessary. A good wiki is built sentence by sentence,
link by link.

The Bilski court case and the recent consultation by the European
Patent Office are two good examples of sources of information to be
mined. Dozens of organizations submitted amicus briefs summarizing
their best arguments and legal justifications for their pro- or
anti-swpat positions. Unlike press statements where companies try to
be vague and offend no one, in these briefs everyone lays their cards
on the table and states their position. So these briefs contain all
the details, if someone would just read them and make notes.

There's also awareness work and pressure campaigns which are useful
regardless of whether the procedures are accepting input, but this
work too needs preparation and coordination to be effective. World
Day Against Software Patents, September 24th, is one such good initiative.

SMEs and consumer organizations should be helping. If they're not
helping in your area, then hopefully by documenting why they're
helping in other areas, we'll help people convince them to become
active in their area.

Well, there you go. I hope I've shown why this is a worthwhile,
sensible project, and I hope you've got ideas for things to add.
Don't worry about finding the right place to add your contribution.
The important thing is to add to the info. As things grow, I'll
review the pages regularly to keep things organized or adapt the
structure. So, if you could either take a look now to add your
soapbox topic, or pick up the habit of adding links to swpat.org
whenever you see an interesting article or website, that would be a
great help.